Hi all!

Er, there's no good reason why this is a mass crossover or an AU.

However, there's a decent reason why several characters are OOC, and that's because I haven't played World or World 2 in years, never played World 3, World DS, World DATS, World Dawn and Dusk, or the Wonder Swan Color games, barely watched the start of Frontier, have never seen any incarnations of Savers/Data Squad, and only just read the manga. And I couldn't even finish Next because it hasn't all been scanlated.

If anything seems wordy, it probably is. Good old NaNoWriMo.

Um, sorry!

"You're sure it's her?"

"Definitely."

"The last time you said 'definitely', it turned out to be some completely random Tamer who just had an uncanny resemblance to her, and she didn't have a drop of Folder blood in her."

"This girl's been spotted with a Lopmon. Generally speaking, they don't just wander around in the wild waiting for someone to Tame them."

He'd always thought that was just a stupid literary cliché, but his heart skipped a beat. Could this really be...?

"The thing is," she spoke on, regardless, "she apparently hasn't been seen in the Archipelago for a good six months."

He clenched a fist. "Why are you only telling me this now?"

"Jen, you know the League doesn't like to cooperate on this sort of thing; they have that ridiculous notion that if someone wants to use Taming to disappear, they can." She signed. Jenrya didn't particularly care why. "It does mean we now know where she's not"

For lack of alternatives, Jenrya gave his untouched siopao a dirty look. His silence must have said something, because she hurriedly followed up the disappointment. "I've been working on a Digimon tracer, kind of like the ones Hypnos uses but on a much wider scale and targeted at certain types of Digimon. Terriermon and Lopmon should have very similar DDNA, so if you could bring him into the office for me to take a sample, we should be able to find Lopmon. And wherever Lopmon is..."

"Shuichon can't be far behind." Jenrya completed. He put down the phone and glanced at Terriermon, only to have the phone beep at him. "Sorry, Donna, I've got another call coming through."

"Sure."

He switched phone lines. "Reika, again?"

"Megumi, actually; sorry to disappoint," came the other technician's voice, sounding far too cheerful for someone on the graveyard shift. "There's been an incident with a Wild One in Byakko, the boss is furious! 'gumi says it's a... Gorimon."

A Gorimon? "What's it doing this far south? They're native to Folder!"

"Gorimon?" Terriermon guessed, looking up from his manjuu.

Jenrya blinked, covering the phone's mouthpiece. "Okay, that was just creepy."

"Oh, you know, the usual, attacking government offices on K Road," Megumi replied. "Frankly, I'm just glad it didn't attack in the day time, half the government would have been around and—"

"Megumi." Jenrya interrupted her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm on my way." Jenrya hung up before she could talk any more, swapping back over to the other phone line. "Donna, something's come up, I've got to go."

"I thought the Alpha team was on call tonight," Donna mused, "didn't you only just get off work a couple of hours ago?"

These days he didn't even bother asking how she knew this sort of thing. "So did I; I'm hoping we'll get paid overtime."

"Good luck with the... Gorimon, is it?"

This was getting kind of silly. "Yeah. Bye."

Terriermon was already waiting at the door with the car keys and Digital Security Guard ID. They didn't bother waiting for the old, rackety elevator, instead choosing to sprint down the twelve flights of stairs to the car park level of Jenrya's apartment building. Before gunning the ignition, Jenrya made sure to slap the priority lights and siren onto the top of his car. There probably wouldn't be too many drivers on the streets this time on a Sunday night, but it was best to make sure he'd have the right of way.

Being part of the Digital Security Guard gave Jenrya license to ignore red lights and break the speed limit several times over in an emergency, but the rest of the team was already there by the time Jenrya swung the car haphazardly into a diagonal park, hopefully far enough down Kushinada Road that Gorillamon's rampage wouldn't hit it.

"How good of you to join us," Hikaru deadpanned, forming an energy sphere.

Developing his own sphere around his hand, Masuken smirked at him. "You know, Jen, I was beginning to think you wouldn't... come."

Hikaru's sphere flared a little. "I heard that. Get your heads in the game, guys!"

Jenrya elected to ignore both remarks, for the time being. "Terriermon?"

The child launched painfully off his shoulder. "Right!" Terriermon, digivolve to... Turuiemon!"

Turuiemon leapt onto Gorimon's shoulder, throwing a Swift Secret Punch at the Wild One's ear to little effect. For the nth time, Jenrya wished his D-Arc would be upgraded to a D-Cyber already. The Digital Accidents Tactics Squad had been so pleased with Hikaru and Masuken's work with the experimental digivices that they'd promised to have one made for Jenrya too, but for some reason they were having trouble sourcing the materials. Even Masuken said he had the best energy control of any of them when he borrowed a D-Cyber for the hell of it (thanks, tai chi training, for teaching him about ki). It just didn't seem fair.

"Jen!" Masuken yelled. "Move!"

Jenrya glanced up to see what must have once been a window above his head. Before he could even think about moving, there was a sphere of energy enveloping him, and the shards of glass were sliding harmlessly to the ground.

"Thank me later," Masuken snapped, beckoning for the energy and sending it to Gin Ryuumon once the glass was clear.

"What are you just standing around for?" Hikaru demanded. "Are you nuts? You could have been killed!"

"Well, excuse me if my digivice isn't energy compatible," muttered Jenrya, retreating to a relatively safe vantage point behind Masuken to watch the battle. "We need to get him into the street. The middle of the road, away from the buildings."

"I'm on it," growled Dorugamon. "Hey, big guy, you know what your mother said to me last night?"

Masuken rolled his eyes as Gorimon stalked Dorugamon out onto the median line of K Road. "Crude, but admittedly effective."

Another Swift Secret Punch swung wild, and Turuiemon landed heavily on the sidewalk, not quite stumbling. "Jen, I need the buildings to get up to him, you know I'm no good long range—"

Hikaru didn't even have to open his mouth to say anything, Dorugamon was already falling back from Gorimon to help out. "I'll give you a boost." (They'd tried flying together before, it didn't tend to work well – Turuiemon inevitably gave him a Gauntlet in the wing by accident.)

"On three!" called Turuiemon, starting to run. "One!"

"Two!"

Turuiemon bounded onto Dorugamon's outstretched claws. "Three!" Dorugamon drove his claws upwards, launching Turuiemon into the air. "Gauntlet!"

The attack got the Wild One in the face, making it stumble backwards. Turuiemon sailed over its shoulder to have Gin Ryuumon catch him.

"He's just playing with us!" Hikaru complained, then yawned. "Okay, it's way too late for this. One adult level against three? It should be over by now!"

Gorimon, perhaps taking offence at this comment and realizing the humans were together, aimed his cannon for Masuken and Jenrya instead. "Energy..."

"Master!" yelled Gin Ryuumon.

"Jen!" Turuiemon added.

"Cannon!"

Masuken threw up an energy shield just in time, wincing as the attack connected with it. All of Gorimon's attacks were based on his gun.

That was it! Jenrya and Masuken shared a look, then glanced back at the digimon. "Aim for the gun arm!"

"I really wish you two would stop talking together like that," Hikaru muttered, "it's a little scary."

All the same, the digimon followed orders.

"Battle Rod Break!"

"Power Metal!"

"Swift Secret Punch!"

The three attacks, two of them powered up through the D-Cyber, connected, and Gorimon howled in pain and anger as his gun arm exploded into a pixel shower.

"We got him!" Turuiemon cheered.

"I don't suppose you could finish him off before he goes on a rampage throughout the city?" suggested Jenrya.

"I'm on it. Close range for more force, and use your balls!" called Turuiemon. "Follow my lead!" Bounding from Gin Ryuumon's back, Turuiemon landed hard in the middle of Gorimon's chest. "Gauntlet, aaaaand a left-handed Gauntlet!"

Gin Ryuumon and Dorugamon had to wait another moment for their power boosts, but soon followed up Turuiemon's attack. With a final roar of outrage, Gorimon pixilated.

"Do you think they're in the market for a rabid Gorimon down south?" asked Hikaru, watching the swirling data with a thoughtful look. "I mean, imagine this thing in a gym, or at the Grand Prix..."

"It's probably diseased," objected Masuken.

"Duh, that's the whole point of letting it be reborn, genius, it gets reformatted," Hikaru pointed out. "How long have you been in this job again? Anyway, if it's not suited for Taming and you don't want it either, I'll have it. Dorugamon, absorb it's da—"

Jenrya shook his head, patting Terriermon as he dedigivolved and settled on his head. "Just let it go."

Surprised, Hikaru stared at him for a moment, before flipping his D-Cyber open and hitting the speed dial for the Digital Accidents Tactics Squad damage report hotline. "Ryuuji Hikaru, self-declared leader of Digital Accidents Omega field team, Gorimon incident in Byakko on K Road..."

Masuken pulled off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt, grimacing as this only left a thin layer of dust on the lenses. Once he put them back on, he glanced up at Jenrya. "You're staring." Jenrya hadn't realized. "My place or yours?"

"Your house is closer," Jenrya replied. "D'you want a ride?"

Masuken glanced at Gin Ryuumon. "Well, we flew here..."

Dedigivolving, Ryuudamon bowed his head. "I do not have the strength. I'm sorry, Master."

"That's alright," Masuken replied, "it's been way too long a day. Yeah, Jen, we'll take that ride. Hikaru?"

Hikaru waved a hand at them, disconnecting his digivice from the phone network. "Yeah, yeah, you're dismissed, go home and do what you like. Who you like, I should say?"

"Shut up," countered Jenrya, walking to the car. "Do you need a ride?"

"I'll catch the train," said Hikaru. "I'm sure—" he yawned, "—I'm sure Dorumon can wake me up if I fall asleep and miss my sto— Dorumon?"

The child was asleep at his feet.

Masuken laughed, removing the siren and lights from Jenrya's car. "See you in a few days."

-

He was fifteen years old again, and he was almost all the way up Infinity Mountain, and he was so tired. They had ridden for five days at a gallop from Abilene (he felt bad about driving the horses so hard, but what could they do? Strikedramon and Stingmon weren't exactly the ideal shape for riding), they'd taken another five days to find their way through the caves of Death Valley, and they'd been hiking up Infinity without the horses for almost a week now. Frankly, he was amazed that Ken had kept going. He was only twelve years old, and the mountain was so steep.

His castle was up ahead. It looked different from last time, when it was more of an orb. This time, it appeared to be entirely composed of crystal, and incrementally growing towers rose in what seemed to be a spiral towards the center. He had to admit, he had a bit of a flair for architectural design.

"How can you say that about him when he killed my brother?" Ken demanded. "How can you say anything good about him?"

Oops. He hadn't realized he'd said that out loud. "Well, I really think that—"

"What do you think, Ryo?"

Ken was glaring at him with all of the glare he could muster at his age and stage of cuteness. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to mention this, but he did ask... "I think Osamu would have said that too."

"About him?"

Monodramon shot a nervous look at Wormmon, who was hitching a ride on Ken's shoulder. Ryo pressed on, regardless. "Look, it's all mathematically precise, with the nice angles and that beautiful spiral, and the ratios are good and—"

"The ratios are good?" repeated Ken, utterly incredulous.

"It's Osamu's kind of thing! He would have liked it!"

For a moment, Ken looked like he was seriously considering slapping him, but in the end he only stalked up to his castle and opened the hideously ornate door. Or at least tried to, anyway. "It's locked..."

"Maybe it opens the other way?" suggested Monodramon.

Ken shook the door handle. It didn't budge. To be honest, Ryo was of the opinion that he was just a little bit too small to open the door. "Let me try."

The younger boy stepped back as Ryo went up to the door and laid a hand on the enormous door handle. He could have sworn the building hummed at him – and it sounded pleased – before the light pressure he was placing on the handle was enough to push it down gently and swing the door inwards.

When he looked up, the younger boy was staring at him. "How did you do that?"

"Guess it likes me better," Ryo shrugged, uneasy with the whole humming thing.

It all flashed forward then, through the traps and puzzles he had set up to delay them if not kill them (it was really getting kind of depressing getting used to slipping and falling on the frozen floors, and getting electrocuted, and burnt, and at one stage even poisoned – it took the four of them half the day to recover from that), through the digimon he had sent out to get in their way if not kill them, through the seemingly endless hallways and stone stairs lit only by a tea light candle every five feet or so. Now they were in the heart of his power, and Monodramon and Wormmon were evolving through Strike Dramon and Stingmon into Dino Beemon.

"Why did you kill him?" Ken was demanding. "He never did anything to you! He didn't have a digivice!"

He rolled his eyes. "No, but he was just as dangerous as if he'd had a digimon that could reach the ultimate stage. His tampering with his—" he gave a nod to Ryo, "—digivice was wrong and only corrupted your power. I mean, Dino Beemon, really? It's unnatural, your pathetic digimon shouldn't be able to digivolve together at all—"

"I'll give you 'unnatural'," snarled Ryo, spinning his D-Arc (as Osamu had dubbed it) in his hand. He jolted his wrist upwards, then swung the D-Arc forward to lash out with the blue whip of energy it emitted. Osamu hadn't really specified what the energy should manifest itself as, he'd just generically wired it as a self defense mechanism, and they'd all been surprised when it turned out to be a bullwhip. The whip wrapped around one of his arms.

To his, Ken, Monodramon, and Wormmon's vast surprise, he merely stared at the whip for a moment, then started to laugh. "I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"And why the hell not?" Ryo demanded, tugging hard on the whip to force his arm downwards.

He took his bittersweet time before answering. "What would you say if I brought your precious friend back?"

Ryo's heart stopped for a moment. It was a good thing Ken was still around to answer for him. "And how do you plan to do that? That's impossible! He'sdead, I remember waking up to see his body dumped in the middle of town thanks to you!"

Ryo only remembered that he was still hanging onto the whip when he looked somewhat comical shrugging his other three arms. "I am a god—"

"Of your own sick delusions of grandeur," Monodramon muttered from within Dino Beemon.

The child went ignored by him. "This is my realm, I can do as I please."

Still too stunned to speak, Ryo could only gape as he reached behind him with one arm and almost tenderly pushed someone forward. Could that really be... "Osamu?" Ryo whispered, as hoarse as if he hadn't spoken in days.

His D-Arc clattered to the ground, the whip retracting into the device. The boy was the right height, had the right clothes on, had the right hair, everything right down to the glasses, but without those horrific wounds and burns he'd had on him the last time Ryo had seen him. And he was even giving him Osamu's trademark ironic wave.

Ryo didn't realize he was walking towards him until Dino Beemon suddenly got in his way. "Move."

"Don't do it, Ryo!" Dino Beemon told him, in both Monodramon and Wormmon's voices. "This isn't who you think it is!"

"Or even what," Ken added, staring. "I think it's... I think it's a clone."

"What would you know, Ken?" the boy who may or may not have been Osamu retorted, before returning his attentions to Ryo. "Ryo, come with me. There's no need to fight, he can give you everything you need..."

Ryo stopped, worried. "Sam, he hurt you..."

"That was just a fake, so you wouldn't come after me." Osamu informed him. "I joined him of my own free will."

"Without telling us?" Ryo asked softly. "After all that he's done?"

"We're working together now."

Ryo shook his head. "We thought you were dead, Sam..."

"He is dead, Ryo, this is just a fake!" Dino Beemon yelled, but Ryo was deaf to all but Osamu.

"It's okay now, Ryo," Osamu replied, rather more gentle than he'd ever heard him before. "It's okay."

Ryo ran past Ken, past Dino Beemon, past him, intent on throwing his arms around Osamu—

"Ryo? Ryo, wake up! Ryo?"

Ryo blinked, blinking groggily in the light of the one gas lamp in their tent. "What, Takato? What is it?" He yawned. "It's not my turn on watch yet; I don't hear them stampeding; is there a Grizzmon stalking the herd or something?"

Takato's eyes were wide in the lamplight, and blinking as he shook his head. "No, it's just... Ryo, you were sleep talking, like, a lot, actually more like sleep yelling, something about Sam and 'he killed you!' and stuff like that, and you kept thrashing around in your sleep," he gave a demonstration, "and I was trying to wake you up and you were crying. Are you alright? You know, you don't have to do the tough stoic cowboy stiff upper lip thing around me, you can tell me if you're upset or anything..."

For a moment, Ryo simply stared at the younger boy, until Takato's face went pink and he looked away and picked up his pencil and sketchbook again. He wiped his eyes and cheeks while Takato was distracted, then collapsed boneless back into bed, idly tracing the buttons of his digivice.

He hadn't dreamed or even so much as thought about Sam, Ken, and him for... it must have been at least a couple of years, if not maybe the last five. Why was he having nightmares about it now, and why was he taunting him by waving around a clone of Osamu?

There was a dark shadow on the side of the tent, and Ryo only saw Takato jump by watching the younger boy's shadow. "Do you think it's—"

"You'll have to dedigivolve if you want to come inside," Ryo interrupted him, speaking to the shadow.

For a moment, there was only the sound of the wind and of Takato's pencil on the page, before his digimon partner spoke with his voice. "You know I need to be in this form."

Ryo sighed. "Wait a minute, Cyb, I'll get dressed."

"You don't have to," Cyberdramon said almost hopefully, and Ryo gave a half-laugh as Takato raised an eyebrow, somewhat disturbed.

As soon as he stepped outside, Ryo regretted throwing on only a singlet, jeans, and his boots, shivering in the night time wind. Noticing the shivers, Cyberdramon moved closer to him, ostensibly to shelter him from the wind with his wings. "Thanks," said Ryo.

Cyberdramon shook his head. "I'm sorry."

Ryo glanced up at him, wishing for the nth time that he could see his eyes under that opaque mask. This wasn't the first time Cyberdramon had seemed to know what happened in his dreams and it probably wouldn't be the last. He'd come to terms with that a long time ago as something that came with being partners with him. All the same, an apology was a little unusual.

"Look, I just... There's something coming."

Instinctively, Ryo's hand moved up to cover something on his belt, but Cyberdramon shook his head again. "Not right now. Something bigger. I can feel it. Can't you?"

"I hadn't thought about Ken for years, if that's what you mean," Ryo answered after a moment. "I wonder what he's doing now..."

Giving a little shrug, Cyberdramon almost tenderly stroked his arm with the blunt side of a claw. "I'll let you sleep now."

"Thanks. Good night, Milleniumon."

If you're a perv like me and want to read the uncut version (that is, the mature stuff isn't cut but the crap still is), there's a link to my Livejournal in my profile.